A new laptop arrives, an old one fails, or a small website moves to another server. The difficult part is often not installing software. It is remembering the handful of decisions that made the previous setup work. A setup note is a plain document that answers those questions while they are still fresh. It does not need to be a complete manual. A page that saves you three searches and one wrong turn has already done its job. ...
A backup is only useful when a lost photo, document, or project can make its way home. Start with what cannot be replaced A new computer can download most apps again. It cannot recreate the photos you took, the documents you wrote, or the notes that explain an unfinished project. Make a short inventory of those files and the devices that hold them. This simple list catches the folders that an automatic backup often misses: a camera card, a phone export, or a desktop folder that grew outside the usual documents directory. ...